


a family of thieves

by hailingstars



Series: unbelievably unlikely (febuwhump 2020) [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Grandpa Tony, Hoodies, Morgan follows in Peter's footsteps, Parent Tony Stark, Peter wearing tony's clothes, Precious Peter Parker, Thief Peter Parker, and so does his son, febuwhump 2020, intruder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:20:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22575469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hailingstars/pseuds/hailingstars
Summary: “Oh, hey, Mr. Stark,” said Peter. He held Tony’s favorite black jacket in his grubby hands. “Uh, what were you doing behind the curtain?”“Catching a thief.”Peter looked all around the room and quieted his voice. “Really? There’s an intruder?”“Yeah,” said Tony. “You.”“Me?” asked Peter, his voice high-pitched. His eyes drifted down to the jacket in his hands. “Oh, I’m not stealing it. I’m borrowing it.”“Oh really? And what’s happened to all the other ones you ‘borrowed’ and never bought back?”OR4 times Peter 'borrows' clothes from Tony and 1 time his grandson steals them allFebuwhump day 5: intruder
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker/Michelle Jones (mentioned & implied)
Series: unbelievably unlikely (febuwhump 2020) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619662
Comments: 52
Kudos: 721





	a family of thieves

Tony stayed completely still behind the curtains. He took slow, steady breaths, quieting himself as much as possible. He was determined to catch a thief before his entire wardrobe got stolen and smuggled out of the lake house.

He had his suspicions about the culprit, and he was proven right when he saw Peter’s worn, muddy Converse scurry into the room and across the carpet, tracking dirt all over the place and making Tony’s stake out unnecessary. He’d know those footprints anywhere.

Tony withheld a sigh. If Peter was going to systematically trying to rob him of all his hoodies and jackets, he could at least have the decency not to leave footprints all over the scene of the crime.

He watched as the shoes disappeared into the closet, and listened to the screech of metal, the scrapping of hangars against metal bars, and then, just a few seconds after the noise stopped, saw Peter’s shoes reappear.

That was his cue. Tony stepped out from behind the curtain.

“Oh, hey, Mr. Stark,” said Peter. He held Tony’s favorite black jacket in his grubby hands. “Uh, what were you doing behind the curtain?”

“Catching a thief.”

Peter looked all around the room and quieted his voice. “Really? There’s an intruder?”

“Yeah,” said Tony. “You.”

“Me?” asked Peter, his voice high-pitched. His eyes drifted down to the jacket in his hands. “Oh, I’m not stealing it. I’m borrowing it.”

“Oh really? And what’s happened to all the other ones you ‘borrowed’ and never bought back?”

“I’ll bring them back.”

“Ok, when?”

“Umm…” said Peter, trailing off. “Eventually! Anyways, you’re a billionaire Mr. Stark, you could just buy some more.” He made a big deal about checking his watch, a watch which looked familiar, like it’d probably also been lifted from Tony’s closet. “I gotta go! See you later!”

“Hey!” said Tony. He could only watch as Peter darted from the room. “Get back here and clean all this crap off the floor!”

Tony listened to the rush footsteps stomp down the stairs and realized it was too late. He was stuck with dirty footprints on the floor and missing jacket.

Pepper walked into the room, saw the mess, and narrowed her eyes at him. “For god’s sake, Tony, you’re worse than the kids. Clean this up.”

He sighed and wandered off to find the vacuum, and once he plugged it and started cleaning.

*

Tony smiled behind his book when he heard a yell, followed by some stumbling around, from the floor above him. He waited for it, waited for the sound of sweet revenge.

“MR. STARK!” came Peter’s indignant shout from upstairs. “THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!”

Pepper shifted her eyes away from her laptop and leveled them at Tony.

“Morgan helped me rig the closet door,” he explained. “Don’t worry. Just a good old fashion flour bomb.”

“Tony,” said Pepper, in her scolding voice. “He has a date with MJ tonight.”

“So what? It serves him right for being a thief.”

“It’s completely normal you know,” Pepper told him. “You wouldn’t believe how often I raided my mother’s closet as a girl. God knows, with your fashion sense, you should take it as a compliment.”

“You love my fashion sense,” said Tony, with a pout.

“I do, but I also love weird,” said Pepper. She looked back at her laptop, focused back on her work. “Now go help your son get ready for his first date before he gets flour all over our bedroom.”

“Fine.” He stood up, shut his book, and dropped it on the coffee table. “But it isn’t because you told me to do it, it’s because I want to.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” said Pepper, with a slight smile and a roll of her eyes.

Tony left the cozy living room and went upstairs to his bedroom, where Peter Parker stood, looking quite pathetic with his angry glare and covered in flour from head to foot.

Tony couldn’t help it, couldn’t suppress his smile or the laugh that escaped his chest even if he had wanted to.

“Really Mr. Stark?” asked Peter, with a whine. “I was just trying to find something to wear on my date.”

“Should’ve asked first,” said Tony, crossing his arms and staring him down. He was like an angry puppy, trying and failing to look intimidating. Even without the flour, it was a look Peter couldn’t pull off.

He supposed Pepper did have a point, though. Looking at Peter’s clothes snatching through her view reminded him of when Morgan used to try and walk around wearing his shoes. This was the same, he supposed.

“Tell you what,” he said. “Clean this shit off my floor and I’ll help you find something to wear on your date.”

Pete grumbled something under his breath that vaguely sounded like he was calling him an old man, but he marched off to find the vacuum cleaner anyway. Revenge was sweet, but Tony supposed helping the kid out with his first date was sweeter.

*

Tony had problems with allergies.

They got worse as his kids grew older, and they were especially bad in that moment, standing in the walk-in closet and watching Peter straighten out his tie. It was patterned with mini Iron Man cartoons eating donuts, and it was appropriately colored in bright red and glimmering, shiny gold.

“I gotta admit,” said Tony. “I’m impressed. I never thought you’d go through with it.”

“May didn’t raise no coward, Mr. Stark,” said Peter. He turned away from the mirror and grinned at him. “Besides, I happen to like this tie.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You would. You have a disaster fashion sense.”

The tie had made the result of a bet Tony made with Peter. If he lost, he had to wear the Iron Man donut tie to his high school graduation. Peter had lost, of course, and though Tony had been just kidding, had never intended for him to actually wear that god forsaken thing, Peter insisted on following through.

Peter laughed and shook his head. “I can’t believe it’s the tie you’re impressed with and not that I’m valedictorian.”

“I’m proud of that, too,” said Tony. He put both hands on both Peter’s shoulders and level his eyes at him. “But kid, somethings are givens. I didn’t doubt you’d be first in your class for a second.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stark,” said Peter, and the two shared a hug, one Tony was forced to let go of entirely too soon.

Before he knew it was sitting in an uncomfortable fold up chair in a sweaty high school gymnasium between May and Pepper, listening to Peter’s speech.

Pepper handed him a tissue.

He had allergies.

*

Tony held on to Peter, and that time, he was determined not to let him go.

“Mr. Stark,” said Peter, starting to shift around from foot to foot. “People are starting to stare.”

He was vaguely aware of the other parents, and students no doubt, moving furniture in dorm rooms, just as he, Pete, and May were supposed to be doing. He was vaguely aware that more than a few had stopped to snap pictures and whisper, but Tony couldn’t be bothered by it just then.

“It’s not every day they’re gonna see the savior of the universe, Pete, let them stare.”

Peter’s body shook with a laugh.

“Tony,” said May, rejoining them back on the sidewalk near the car. “Give the boy some air, please. You’ll suffocate him before he even makes it to his first class.”

Only at her insistence, Tony released Peter from the bear hug and took a step backwards. He stared at Peter, with the outline of his dorm building standing tall behind him. He looked so grown up, and that had happened entirely too fast, too soon. All this was happening too soon.

“Are you sure about this college thing, kid?”

“Mr. Stark – “

“-know what I think? Eighteen is too young for college. What are we? Animals? Sending our kids away like this to be brainwashed by an institution,” said Tony, his voice getting faster. He tugged on Peter’s arm. “Come on I’ll help you put your stuff back in the car.”

“MIT was your idea,” Peter pointed out it.

“That’s your first problem,” said Tony. “Why would you ever listen to me?”

“Mr. Stark,” said Peter, with a laugh. “I’m going to miss you too.”

“Yeah,” said Tony, his eyes shifting over to the parked car. “Wait here. I brought something for you.”

Tony went to the car, taking longer than he needed, giving May and Peter a chance to say goodbye to each other before he walked back to them with the present in hand.

“I would say you’re only borrowing it,” said Tony, handing over a faded maroon hoodie to Peter. He took it and run his over the barely-still-there MIT logo on the front. “But we both know what you’re definition of borrowing is.”

“This is really cool, Mr. Stark, did it used to be yours, when you went here?” 

“Uh,” said Tony. “Actually I think it belonged to Rhodey. Don’t tell him I stole it.”

Peter laughed, and Tony wanted to hang on to that, too. Who knew when he’d hear it next? Who knew if Peter would actually want to come home for Thanksgiving, once he got settled in on campus and made friends?

Tony gave him one last hug, before May drug him away and forced him into the car. His last view of Peter was in the rearview mirror. He waved at them as they pulled out into the main room, one hand in the air and another clutching the old MIT hoodie Tony had willingly gave away, hoping it’d save Pete from getting homesick.

*

*

*

_years later_

Tony’s favorite days were Sunday.

They were spent with his whole family, in the city, and ended with dinner and board games at Peter and MJ’s apartment. It was a nice apartment, if a little small, but the young family was happy and that was all Tony really wanted for them.

Morgan was beating them all at a late-night game of monopoly, which made Tony suspect she was cheating, when his grandson’s cries screeched out from the baby monitor.

Tony stopped Peter from rising up from his chair. “I’ll get him.”

He left them in the dining room before he could be stopped and walked through the hallway, towards Ben’s room. He lived for these moments. He missed Morgan being small, and he wished he’d been in Peter’s life when he’d been that small.

With Ben, he could make up for lost time.

He went straight to his crib, his heart melting into a puddle of goo when Ben saw him and raised his arms up, a silent but effective cue for Tony to life him up in his arms and out of the crib.

“Hey little guy,” whispered Tony, holding him close. He dabbed Ben’s wet cheeks with his thumb. “Why the tears?”

“Daddy forgot my bwanklet.”

“Oh, well he’s in trouble then, isn’t he? How awful.”

Ben nodded against his chest.

“Grandpa to the rescue then, like always.”

Tony walked around the small room, looking for Ben’s blanket, and finally found it on the armchair that sat in the window. He picked it up with the hand that wasn’t supporting Ben, and noticed it looked quite familiar.

It wasn’t until he laid Ben down in his crib and gave him his blanket that he noticed it was a blanket that hadn’t always been a blanket. It was hoodies stitched together. _His_ old hoodies, the ones Peter had borrowed from him over the years.

“Grandpa… can we have ‘nother sweep over at the wake house?” 

“Sure we can, buddy.”

Ben’s eyes lit up. “Promise?”

“You have my word,” said Tony. “Now go back to sleep.”

As Tony watched Ben drift back off to sleep, his eyes scanned over all the forgotten clothes Ben had clutched between his fingers, memories that he couldn’t sleep without.

“It was the blanket, wasn’t it?” asked Peter, in a low voice, from the doorway of his son’s bedroom. “He’s always had a hard time falling asleep without me here, so I’d leave one of my hoodies behind – “

“-you mean my hoodies.”

Peter laughed. “I’d always leave one behind and that’d help him. Eventually MJ got tired of it and had that blanket made. I hope you don’t mind, I don’t think you’re ever getting them back.”

“Kid,” said Tony. “It’s more than okay.”

He wouldn’t have it any other way.

It was… _right_. Perfect in a way that filled Tony and gave him allergies over all again. Perfect in a way that, at point one in his life, Tony didn’t think would ever belong to him. He was a man who truly had it all, even if the was missing half his wardrobe.

Peter and Tony rejoined the game of monopoly just in time from them to hear Pepper say to Morgan, “Are those my earrings?” 

“Oh don’t worry, Pep, it’s completely normal. You should take it as a compliment,” said Tony, sitting back down in his chair and, for the first time that day, noticing the shirt his daughter was wearing. “Hey. That’s my AC/DC shift.”

Morgan didn’t seem bothered. She shrugged her shoulders as she landed on Go and collected double the money.

That was a rule Peter had introduced at the beginning of the game that Tony disagreed with immensely, but Peter had simply told him, with an irritating smirk, that it was his house, so it was his rules.

“What can I say?” said Morgan. “You guys have really good taste for, like, old people.”

Tony supposed he couldn’t be too upset. If he was growing old, at least he was doing it in style.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading!! and thanks to frostysunflowers for helping me out with toddler dialogue!! 
> 
> kudos and/or comments let me know what you think!! 
> 
> [ yell at me on tumblr](https://hailing-stars.tumblr.com)


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